Impact Wrestling Review: Good Enough Follow-Up After Lockdown?

As we seen on Lockdown, the Aces and Eights angle became full circle after Bully Ray was revealed to be the mastermind behind it all. He defeated Jeff Hardy, and solidified his transformational singles run by winning the TNA World Heavyweight Championship.

Aces and Eights made an immediate impression on the latest episode of Impact Wrestling, attacking tag team title contenders Chavo and Hernandez in the beginning of the show. Many people were anticipating how Bully Ray would explain the purpose behind his rebellious creation, but we really did not get that. Instead, we got more of a "You all were fooled!" promo, which we already knew that much.

Velvet Sky and Mickie James won a decent knockouts tag team match. TNA has some good women competitors on the roster, but they severely need more depth to revive the division parallel to the days of old.

Other than the "Feed Me More" chants, nothing interesting come out of the Rob Terry vs. Robbie E match. Seemingly, TNA wants to give Terry another babyface push, similar to when he was Global Champion and feuding with Orlando Jordan. While he has the look of someone who could be a threat, he has yet to gain the wrestling ability. Time will tell if that ever happens.

The "Legion of Boom" parody by Bad Influence continues to prove that Christopher Daniels and Kazarian is one of the best tag teams in all of pro wrestling right now. They work very solid together every match, and their crass, cocky attitude makes them (especially Christopher Daniels) some of the best pure heels in the business.

The match with James Storm pretty much added a bit of suspense for the return of AJ Styles. The decision made by TNA to both hit Kazarian and clothesline James Storm was a good one. It is a good way to freshen his character, in the form of an outcast. This could be a pretty good move for AJ Styles if done properly.

Joseph Park is still a good gimmick, and Matt Morgan has received a fair amount of airtime since his return. However, Joseph Park starting a program with Matt Morgan may lead to a dead end for Morgan, seeing how the emphasis is more on Park getting better as a wrestler. It just always seem like Morgan has a glass ceiling over his career in TNA. As much as he antagonizes Hogan, it doesn't really mean much since he is not very high in the pecking order regarding being a contender for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship.

The Sting vs. Austin Aries match was a good main event. Sting showed that he can still hang with someone who is nearly 20 years younger than him, although he did (understandably) look a bit winded at times. The Aces and Eights attack on Sting was predictable seeing how they were saying throughout the whole show that they wanted to make an impact.

The TNA roster looked weak running out just to get overtaken by an Aces and Eights onslaught. It did make Bully look stronger though, which seemed to be the primary focus of the show. So as a result?mission accomplished.

Hopefully this does not lead to a Hulk Hogan vs. Bully Ray match down the line for the title. Again, I say... hopefully this does not lead to a Hulk Hogan vs. Bully Ray match down the line for the title.

Was this a good follow-up show after the Lockdown pay-per-view? Sound off below.

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